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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28980744">The Queerleaders</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/about_thyme/pseuds/about_thyme'>about_thyme</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>We Are The Tigers - Allen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Chai - Freeform, F/F, band au! band au!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:49:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,550</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28980744</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/about_thyme/pseuds/about_thyme</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chai fic!! Band AU!! We’ve got it all!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cairo &amp; Riley (We Are The Tigers), Cairo/Chess, Chess &amp; Kate (We Are The Tigers), Kate/Eva Sanchez (We Are The Tigers)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Bass?” Chess asked, looking confused. “You play bass?”<br/>
It was a particularly slow practice that day. Riley wasn’t there, and Cairo decided to take a more laid back approach to cheering that day. Kate, Annleigh, and Mattie had already left, and the rest of them were sitting on the bleachers. Chess had mentioned that she had a piano recital later in the month, and Reese said she played guitar, and then they all started talking about music.<br/>
“Yeah, judgement, I play bass,” Farrah responded. “I started in middle school orchestra and chose to move on from playing the same note over and over again to doing cooler shit.”<br/>
“Funny,” Eva said. “I play drums.”<br/>
“We’ve got enough people for a band,” Farrah joked. “Reese on guitar, Eva on drums, Chess on keyboard, me on bass, and Cairo singing.”<br/>
“Yeah” Eva said. “Wait, are you serious?”<br/>
“Not really,” Farrah replied. “What would we even be called?”<br/>
“The Cheerleaders?”<br/>
“Lame.”<br/>
“Come on, Reese, we’d obviously be the Queerleaders,” Chess said, smiling.<br/>
“Genius,” Eva laughed. “What music would we play?”<br/>
“Eva, we’re a pop/rock band of course,” Farrah replied. “Everything else is fine enough but that’s elite.”<br/>
“Wait, are we actually doing this?” Chess asked.<br/>
They all exchanged glances.<br/>
“Hell yeah,” Farrah said. Everyone nodded.<br/>
“Cairo, we’re forming a band!”<br/>
“Cool,” Cairo said, texting.<br/>
“You’re in it!”<br/>
Cairo looked up from her phone. “Huh?”<br/>
“Ooh, who are you texting? Aaliyah? How is she?”<br/>
“We broke up, actually,” Cairo said with a tight-lipped smile.<br/>
“Oh.” Reese looked down, eyes widening. “I’m sorry.”<br/>
“No, it’s okay. It was mutual. We’re on good terms.” The look on Cairo’s face contradicted her words.<br/>
Chess stared at her. Cairo and Aaliyah had been dating for almost a year. They were so good together. They had been the unofficial official cutest couple at school for basically the whole time they were dating. This was...interesting.<br/>
“Anyway, what?” Chess snapped back to see Cairo looking at her.<br/>
“Oh, um, do you want to start a band?”<br/>
Cairo smiled. “Depends. Who’s in it?”<br/>
“Everyone here,” Farrah said, gesturing to the group. “You’re lead singer. What do you say?”<br/>
She thought about it for a moment. “You know what? Why the hell not. Let’s do it!”<br/>
Reese high-fived her. “Yes! Welcome to the Queerleaders!”<br/>
“Kickass name.”<br/>
“We know.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“A band?” Kate said, wiping down the counter. “You guys are starting a band and you didn’t invite me? I’m hurt,” they said, clutching their chest.<br/>Chess rolled her eyes. “No offense, dude, but you don’t have a musical bone in your body.” They were hanging out at Kate’s job at the local coffee shop. It had been a Kate and Chess spot for years, and Kate started working there as soon as she could. Chess wanted to as well, but gymnastics took up too much of her time and then she just never got around to it.<br/>“That’s true,” Kate smirked. “I guess I’ll just have to settle for being your number one fan.”<br/>“You’re going to have to compete with Riley for that position. She’s already made buttons with her button maker, because of course she has a button maker.”<br/>“Of course.” Kate rolled her eyes. “But seriously, when did this start?”<br/>“At practice the other day. You, Annleigh, and Mattie had left and we started talking about music and one thing led to another. I’m the keyboardist, Farrah plays bass, Reese plays guitar, Eva plays drums, and Cairo’s the lead singer.”<br/>“Cairo’s in this? Did you hear that she and Aaliyah broke up?” Kate said, raising their eyebrows at Chess.<br/>“Shut up.” Chess was blushing.<br/>“I’m just saying, she’s single now.”<br/>“ANYWAY.”<br/>Kate laughed. “When’s your first rehearsal?”<br/>“Saturday. I’ve got no clue what we’re going to do, but it’ll be fun. I don’t even know what we’re going to play.”<br/>“Isn’t Reese a music person? Maybe she’ll write you some songs. And you’re not bad at rhyming.”<br/>“Wow, thanks.”<br/>“You know what I mean. You used to write all those little tunes and songs back in middle school, and they were good!”<br/>Chess had never actually stopped writing lyrics to songs. She never focused on the actually musical part, but she liked to write to get her feelings out. It was like a diary. <br/>“Yeah, I guess.”<br/>“Hey guys!” Chess and Kate turned around. Cairo walked up to them and smiled.<br/>“Oh, hey Cairo. What’s up?”<br/>“Nothing really. Can I get a chai latte?”<br/>“Yeah, one sec.” Kate walked away and started making the coffee.<br/>“I drink too much coffee, but it’s just so good,” Cairo said, turning to Chess.<br/>“Oh, mood,” she replied. “What’s your favorite? I like tea, but I will never say no to a latte.”<br/>“Me too! I can’t help myself.” She smiled.<br/>Chess smiled too. They stood in silence for a minute, and she saw Kate taking her time with the latte.<br/>“So, hey, how are you getting to rehearsal tomorrow?”<br/>Ches looked up. “I was just planning on driving myself. It’s at Reese’s house, right?”<br/>“Yeah, only child privileges. Do you want to maybe carpool? I know we live near each other. I could drive tomorrow?”<br/>Chess’s eyes widened. Whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t that.<br/>She waited too long to say something. Cairo looked down. “Or not, whatever works.”<br/>“No, no! That sounds great, I’d love too!”<br/>“Great!” Cairo said. “Pick you up at one?”<br/>“See you then.”<br/>Kate walked back over with Cairo’s latte. “Here you go! Have a nice day.”<br/>“Bye guys!” Cairo grabbed her bag and walked out of the store. Chess watched her go.<br/>“Soooooo? A ride?” Kate propped their face on their hands and leaned toward. “Or is it something...more?”<br/>“No, it is not something more. It is a carpool, which friends do. Especially friends who want to be environmentally friendly and not use cars too much, and I’m sure Cairo cares about that.”<br/>“Okay,” Kate said. They dropped the subject, but planned on following up after the band practice. “So, did you catch the game?”<br/>“What game? What sports do you watch?”<br/>“British football. Eva turned me on to it, and now I’m obsessed. It’s a problem.”<br/>“So stop watching?”<br/>“No.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cairo looked at the clock for the hundredth time. It was 12:50. Was it better to be on time or a little early? She didn’t want to be too early, in case Chess wasn’t ready, but she didn’t want to risk being late either.<br/>Her phone buzzed. Riley had texted her: “Good luck with band practice!!!!! Have fun!!!!” Tiger emoji, bow emoji, saxophone emoji, orange heart emoji, smiley face emoji, rainbow emoji. Riley was and had always been Cairo’s biggest supporter, and Cairo loved that about her, but sometimes it could be a bit much. <br/>She looked at the clock. It was 12:55. Time to go.<br/>Cairo pulled up in front of Chess’s house and texted her “here.” She took her hands off the steering wheel and took a deep breath. She had first noticed Chess last year, when she joined the team, but hadn’t thought about her that much. She and Aaliyah had first started dating around that time, and she was busy with the stress of junior year. She and Aaliyah had started drifting apart over the summer, and tried to make it work, but decided to break up. It really was mutual. Cairo knew that it was the right thing to do, and being together wasn’t good for either of them, but she still missed Aaliyah and she missed dating her. They had said they would stay friends, but it was still a little too soon and they hadn’t talked in a while. She had started really noticing Chess recently. Chess was funny and nice and really pretty, but Cairo didn’t know how Chess felt about her. <br/>“Hey Cairo!” Cairo jumped. Chess pulled open the door. “Can I put my keyboard in the trunk?”<br/>“Yeah, that works. Do you need any help?”<br/>“No, I think I’m good, but thanks.” Chess walked to the back of the car and Cairo heard the trunk open, a lot of banging sounds, and then the trunk slamming shut. <br/>Chess got into the car. “Thanks again for suggesting carpooling, it’s a great idea.”<br/>“Yeah! So, are you ready for rehearsal? What are we even going to do?”<br/>Chess laughed. “I don’t know. Probably sit around talking for thirty minutes, and then Eva will ask if we should actually play something, and maybe we’ll play a few notes?”<br/>“Works for me.”<br/>“Yeah.” They settled into silence. Chess looked out the window. Cairo didn’t know what to say. She and Chess had never really hung out before, and the awkwardness was there and obvious.<br/>“So. What’s your favorite color?” Cairo broke the silence.<br/>“Blue. Why?” <br/>“Making conversation? We honestly don’t really see each other outside of cheer, and we don’t talk much there either.”<br/>“Yeah, you’re right. We should hang out more. What’s your favorite color?”<br/>“Purple, but I’m indecisive.” <br/>“You sound like Kate. In middle school, whenever someone asked her favorite color, she would say a different one and eventually started making them up. It was chartruzle for a while.”<br/>Cairo laughed. “That’s the most on-brand Kate thing I’ve ever heard.”<br/>“Yeah. I have so many stories about her. Remind me to tell you about their emo phase.”<br/>“Why wait? Tell me now.”<br/>“I’ll need time to gather pictures. They had the bangs and everything.”<br/>“Oh my god.”<br/>“I guess we’ll have to keep driving together.” Cairo fell silent. Chess wanted to spend time with her.<br/>“Yeah.”<br/>“Wait, do you have Reese’s address?”<br/>“Oh shit. Hang on, I know she lives on Meadow but I don’t know the number.”<br/>“I’ll text her.” Chess’s phone buzzed. “Wow, that was fast. Okay, it’s 67 Meadow Drive.”<br/>“Can you look for it and tell me when to stop?”<br/>“Sure.” Chess watched the houses go by. “Okay, 59, 61, 65, 67. The white one right there.”<br/>Cairo pulled into the driveway and turned off the car. “Music time!”<br/>“Yeah. You ready?”<br/>“Of course.”<br/>Chess grabbed her keyboard and bag from the trunk. Cairo walked up to the front and rang the doorbell. <br/>Reese opened the door. “Hey guys! We’re rehearsing in the basement. Come on in. Chess, do you need any help?”<br/>“Nope!” <br/>“Okay, let’s go!”<br/>They walked into the house, through the living room, and down the stairs to the basement. Eva and Farrah were sitting on the couch and talking. <br/>“Shit, are we late?” Chess asked.<br/>“No, I was just nearby and got here early and Farrah is weirdly punctual.” Eva replied.<br/>“Annleigh is always at least five minutes early to everything, and it’s rubbed off on me,” Farrah argued, defending herself.<br/>“You were ten minutes early.”<br/>“Better than ten minutes late.”<br/>“Annleigh really is affecting you,” Cairo said.<br/>“Moving on!” Reese clapped her hands. “Does everyone have their instruments? Chess, keyboard? Farrah, bass? Eva, drums?” <br/>“Eva, how did you even get those inside?” Chess was confused. There was a full drum set in Reese’s basement that had not been there the last time Chess visited, and it was set up very nicely.<br/>“Lots of lifting, cursing, and dropping things. Cairo, did you bring something to sing with?” <br/>Cairo had brought her microphone with her. Riley had gotten it for her when she first joined choir, and she loved it.<br/>“Yeah, I’ve got my mike. What are we playing first?”<br/>“I figured we could start with a warmup. Who’s ready for Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?”<br/>Farrah groaned. “Really? We haven’t even decided what songs to play or whether we should write our own or cover stuff. Maybe we should do that first?”<br/>“You just hate warmups,” Reese teased. Farrah notoriously hated stretching and getting ready before practice. “But fine. Any ideas? I know how to write music, so I could do that, but I’m bad with lyrics, so being a cover band might be better.”<br/>Chess raised her hand. “I used to write a lot of songs when I was younger, and I could still do it maybe? I’m also fine with being a cover band.”<br/>“We can do both,” Eva suggested. “We could start out with covering popular songs while Reese and Chess work on some things, and then move into learning their songs.”<br/>Everyone nodded. “What songs should we do? I’m not doing dad rock.” Cairo was vehemently opposed to dad rock: bad songs only dads liked.<br/>“Let’s do super queer songs. Queen, anybody?”<br/>Another unanimous decision.<br/>“Okay,” Reese said. “I’ll find some music online. But first, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star!”</p><p>After a successful practice, Chess and Cairo got into Cairo’s car. Reese had let Chess and Eva leave their instruments at her house so they didn’t have to haul them back and forth every time. It had been a great time.<br/>“So, that was fun!” Cairo said, buckling her seatbelt.<br/>Chess agreed. Making music with the team had been an awesome thing to do.<br/>“When’s our next practice? Next Saturday?” Chess asked.<br/>“No, next Sunday, because Farrah and Reese are busy Saturday.”<br/>“Oh, okay. That’s good, I already know I’m going to have so much homework this week.”<br/>“What classes do you take?”<br/>“AP physics, Euro, painting, calc, AP lang, and French.”<br/>“Physics is a bitch. Are you ready for the test on Friday?”<br/>“Absolutely not. Who’s your teacher? I have Johnson.”<br/>“Me too. She’s such a hard grader.”<br/>“I know! I forgot to write the date on a test and she took off a point.”<br/>“Of course she did.” Ms. Johnson was only nice to her favorite students, and Chess and Cairo were not among them. <br/> “So, hey, do you maybe want to get together and study for Friday? I know you’re good at physics and I figured we could help each other.”<br/>Chess wanted to study with Cairo. Chess wanted to spend time together.<br/>“Sure! When and where? Maybe the coffee shop Kate works at?”<br/>“No, let’s not go there. Kate will hover around and we won’t get anything done. How about Suzie’s, and maybe Wednesday after school?” Suzie’s was a fun little bakery in town, which Cairo’s aunt happened to own. She usually got discounted pastries because of it.<br/>“Okay. Should we drive to school together so we can go there together?”<br/>“If you want! I usually drive Kate to school, so we could still drive with her and then maybe drop her off at work on our way to Suzie’s?”<br/>“Works for me.”<br/>“I’ll pick you up at 7:30? I like to be there a little early, if that’s okay.”<br/>“Sure!” They had arrived at Chess’s house. “Well, I’ll see you at school.”<br/>“Bye!” Chess got out of the car.<br/>“Hey, Chess?” Chess turned around. “Please bring some photos of Kate’s emo phase. We will need something to laugh at while being buried in physics.”<br/>Chess smiled. “Okay, I will.” She walked up to her house. Cairo watched her go and sighed.<br/>“It’s too soon,” she said to herself. She had just gotten out of a relationship, and she didn’t really want to date anyone right now, but...Chess. There was a whole mess of feelings all twisted up in Cairo, and she didn’t know what to do. But now, it was time for homework. She pulled out of Chess’s driveway and headed home.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cairo was sitting in the back seat of Chess’s car. There had been a fight for the front, and Kate had won, claiming best friend rights. Chess’s car was messier than Cairo expected. There were papers and pens and hair ties scattered all over the ground and seats. <br/>“Sorry it’s so messy,” Chess said, twisting around in her seat to face Cairo. “I usually clean up every so often, but I decided not to do that because I didn’t want to.”<br/>Cairo laughed. “It’s okay. You should see my room.”<br/>“So, guys, how’s the band going?” Kate asked. “Are we rocking out? Making music? Banging out tunes?”<br/>“No, no, and no,” Cairo responded. “We’re playing nursery rhymes and the like, so we can get used to playing together. Your girlfriend’s really good.”<br/>“I know,” Kate said. “I’m sure you guys aren’t bad either.”<br/>“Gee, thanks,” Chess said. “What a confidence booster. Here that, Cairo? We’re not bad!”<br/>“That’s what I was thinking waiting for. I know I’ve made it when Katelyn Dalton says I’m not bad.”<br/>“You know what I mean,” Kate said, rolling their eyes. “Here we are!” They had arrived at the coffee shop, and Kate hopped out of the car.<br/>“Bye! Cairo, do you want to get in the front?”<br/>Cairo nodded, unbuckled her seat belt, and walked around to the front. <br/>“So, are you ready to study?” Cairo asked.<br/>“Am I ever ready to study? No,” Chess replied. “But I am ready for pastries. That’s the only reason we’re studying here.”<br/>“Of course. What’s your favorite?”<br/>“I love their raspberry turnovers, but only here. Anywhere else, something chocolate. What about you?”<br/>“Chocolate is amazing, but I usually go with the lemon squares.”<br/>“Valid, those are delicious. Honestly, everything there is amazing.”<br/>“So true.” A pause in the conversation. What could they talk about besides physics for an hour?<br/>“Hey, did I tell you my aunt owns this place?”<br/>“Your aunt is THE Suzie? I think I’ve just fallen in love with her.”<br/>Cairo laughed. “No, her wife is Suzie. She’s Eileen. They decided that Suzie’s has a better ring to it than Eileen’s.”<br/>“I think they’re right. Do they just bake together all day? Living the dream.”<br/>“Basically, yeah. Eileen does the finance side more and Suzie comes up with the recipes.” <br/>“Please tell Suzie she’s amazing and incredible.”<br/>“You can tell her yourself, we’re here. Got your textbook?”<br/>Chess groaned. “Is it really necessary to study? Can’t we just eat pastries?”<br/>Cairo laughed. “God, I wish. But no. We’ve got to study.”<br/>They walked into the shop, the little bell over the door signaling their arrival. Cairo led Chess to her favorite corner table by the window. <br/>“Come on, let’s get pastries,” Cairo said. “Aunt Eileen? Aunt Suzie?” she called out.<br/>“Cairo?” Cairo’s aunt Eileen walked out from the back. “Hey! What are you doing here?”<br/>“We’re studying for a physics test,” Cairo said, gesturing to herself and Chess. “And we could use some pastries as fuel.”<br/>“Okay, girls, what’ll it be?” Eileen asked.<br/>“I’ll take a raspberry turnover, and you want a lemon square, right?” Chess replied, looking at Cairo for confirmation. “And can I just say, you and your wife make the best pastries in the world and they’re incredible.”<br/>Eileen laughed. “Thank you so much...?”<br/>“Chess.”<br/>“Thank you, Chess. I think we can get you girls some half-off treats. You need the brain food! Physics is hard!”<br/>“Thank you,” Chess and Cairo replied. They got their pastries and went to their table.<br/>“Okay, let’s go. We’ve got food, we’ve got books, we’ve got motivation.”<br/>“Speak for yourself, Cai, I don’t have motivation.” Cairo fell silent. Her friends and family were the only ones who called her Cai. Riley, her non-cheer friends Grace and JJ, and of course Aaliyah. Chess had never called her it before.<br/>“Sorry, do you not want me to call you that? I just...” Chess trailed off.<br/>“No, no, it’s okay! You caught me off-guard. Do you have any nicknames?”<br/>“My sister calls me Board, as in chess board, but you can’t call me that because I don’t like it much.”<br/>Cairo laughed. “Board.”<br/>“Shut up.” Chess rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.<br/>“Okay, moving on, what equations are on the quiz?”<br/>“All of them.”<br/>“Right. Did she say how many questions there are?” <br/>“I think she said two for each equation: one easy word problem and one hard one, so twenty-eight questions.”<br/>“There’s too much math.”<br/>“Yeah. Okay, let’s get started for real this time. What’s the equation for acceleration?”<br/>“Final velocity minus starting velocity divided by time. How about velocity?”<br/>“Speed divided by time. Gravity?”</p><p>After ninety minutes, they left the store, full of pastries and knowledge. They talked about school and friends on the ride home. Chess told Cairo about her painting class, and Cairo talked about pottery. Cairo was having so much fun, she didn’t notice when Chess pulled up to her house.<br/>“This was fun. Should we do it again for the next test?” Chess asked. <br/>“Yeah, definitely. We work well together.” Cairo said. They smiled at each other.<br/>“Well, see you,” Cairo said, unbuckling her seat belt.<br/>“Wait! I never showed you emo Kate,” Chess said, getting out her phone. “I went through my mom’s photo library and got the best ones.”<br/>She showed her phone to Cairo, who covered her mouth. There was Kate. Black clothes, angled side bangs, safety pins on her shirt, and-<br/>“What are those buttons?”<br/>Chess laughed. “You mean the ones for the most unemo emo bands that exist? They loved those bands. It was horrible.”<br/>“Christ,” Cairo said. “Do they know you’re showing this to me?”<br/>“No, and she can NEVER know. Okay?”<br/>“Okay,” Cairo laughed, getting out of the car. “Bye! See you tomorrow!”<br/>“Bye!” Chess drove away. Cairo smiled as she left. It had been a really good day.</p>
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